Diario de brandon130

So, i thoroughly enjoy keeping myself busy and observing nature. I am, unfortunately, not one that like to sit still and wait something out or observe and stay quite. I much prefer rushing in, loudly and clumsily into the domain of my more discreet animal brethren in the hopes of seeing everything as fast as possible. The deserts of the west however, can slow down even the most tenacious and oblivious of observers, and ware them out so thoroughly that they are forced to observe it's beauty. At nearly every stop along our trip through the desert i had a primordial desire to run off to the nearest high thing and climb it, so filled was i with this fervor that i often left the group behind and missed out on valuable learning experiences. However, in achieving these heights i learned a few things: birds can't be spooked by you if you're above them because many of them don't look up, coyotes and ground squirrels appear to have communal (or at the very least, favored) 'bathroom' areas, a forest of cactus and a long drop can put the fear of God into any person, chollas are not good hand holds and their spines have sheathes, observing plant distribution is much easier from above, and, although not major, you can observe distinct differences between the flora and fauna on a mountain vs. on the plains. Many of these observations, and more, only became available to me after i was forced to slow down by the vigorous exhaustion of climbing. The most thorough of which came to me upon my first topping of the Kelso Dunes over 600 foot tall monstrous beast of a main dune. After the nearly 2 mile trudge through shifting sands followed by the monstrous near vertical climb up the side of the dune, with an extra pound or two of sand in my pockets and shoes, and my mind totally quiet i was able to see the land stretched out before me and how the vegetation fought to tame the dunes. How they wrestled with the wily sand! Succeeding at the edges to wrestle it into habitable stable ground, and failing in the center where they were slowly, agonizingly, smothered by the wind blown sand. I began to become aware of the wind that both moved dunes but also carried ravens up and down across the landscape. The sun which controlled the wind heating and pushing it in all directions, to and fro across the desert. This combination which would readily drain water from plants and burn their fleshy leaves was also necessary for their reproduction. These abiotic factors which both destroyed and aided life displayed so readily before my tired mind, though potentially obvious through text and lecture, would likely never have stuck so firmly in my mind had i not had the opportunity of these experiences.

I touched on it briefly in my first journal entry but something that becomes readily apparent in the desert lands of the western united states is the even, borderline regimented, spacing of many of the plants in the flat areas spanning the distance between the mountains. I imagine this is due to the minimal water fall in the desert and the need to maintain or even defend ones own personal space to take advantage of the rain that does land on the ground. This sort of environment has created quite a unique environment for the mice, lizards and birds of these areas. I've noted that mice (and other small rodents) will burrow among the roots of the many bushes of the landscape, only darting out at night to feed and socialize. The lizards, for their part, need the warm embrace of the suns light and will warm themselves out on exposed rocks, only returning to the protective camouflage and cover of the bushes when they sense a hungry predator watching them from above. The birds for their part carry out their role as predator on high, launching themselves into the underbrush in search of berries, mice, lizards, and even other birds. The birds that suffer this harsh, cannibalistic, assault have sought to join the lizards and the mice in the protective underbrush. Those that have found ways to avoid it, or are themselves the predators, stand vigilant atop bushes, cacti, or power lines, surveying their domain as the small gods of destruction i'm sure the smaller prey animals consider them.

Landing in Las Vegas, my first impressions was the immense size of the Rocky Mountains of the western side of my country. Their immense imposition on the skyline quietly putting the glitz and gilded gleam of the city to shame. Upon leaving the following morning and traveling into the desert proper i became aware of something disconcerting. It is likely the first thought that enters the mind of any person entering the desert for the first time from the humid, towering, green forests of the Appalachians. This thought is simply that their are no massive forests, no chocking vines growing out of forests floors covered in equal amounts of damp soil and forest greenery, no canopy rising up greedily to consume the suns glow before it reaches the ground. That is not to say that there are no plants, surprisingly, spreading out before me is a sea of scrub brushes dotting the landscape, evenly, for as far as the eye can see. The mountains, bare of the forest canopies of a wetter climate, rise up naked and unafraid before the human eye, their topography and geology readily visible and appreciated for all who gaze on their might. I eagerly desire to see all that this land has to offer, from the bottom of valley to the top of those glorious mountains, my interest has been heavily peaked and even now i doubt that this trip, no matter how thorough, will exhaust my interest in this new world laid before my fresh eyes.